The spill occurred in late January when oil leaked into the ground through a small hole in an above-ground tank. A new tank was installed and a cleanup occurred. A week later, the building was shut down after employees who work at the Main Street building complained of nausea and headaches.

Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the state was alerted about the spill and referred cleanup efforts to Atlantic County. County Emergency Preparedness Director Vincent Jones could not be reached for comment last week.

It’s groundhog day at the nation’s most notorious toxic waste site – Love Canal:[full story]

NIAGARA FALLS – A chemical compound found by a contractor working in a LaSalle neighborhood has been connected to Love Canal-era contamination, multiple sources confirmed to the Niagara Gazette on Thursday.

The substance was found last week when a Niagara Falls Water Board contractor, working in the vicinity of the 70-acre Love Canal containment structure, broke into a clay pipe, releasing a chemical compound.

The compound released from the pipe produced an odor which could be smelled blocks away from the site of the excavation, the contractor said.

The fact that history repeated itself at Love Canal came as a shock to many, so I assume that people would be suprised to learn that a technically similar – but far less well known – case was reported this week in a story from the Belleville Times. That story shows that another ticking chemical timebomb has gone off.

Homes and businesses near the former Walter Kidde industrial site may be contaminated by a cancer-causing chemical, trichloroethylene, according to Belleville officials.

DALE MINCEY/BELLEVILLE TIMES

TCE, which removes grease from metal parts, can cause nerve, kidney, and liver damage when inhaled for “long periods” of time, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. Clinical studies on mice and rats have further suggested that “high levels” of TCE can result in liver, kidney or lung cancer.

Neighboring property owners believed to be at risk received a letter from the Belleville Department of Health last week. They were invited to attend an information session on Wednesday. About 16 residents showed up, along with several township officials, and the environmental specialist and attorney representing Belleville in a complaint against the site’s current owners.

“Two people in my house had cancer in the last 10 years, and when I read this…” said resident Diane Bruno. “We thought this was said and done,” she added of the issues surrounding the site.

History

The township and the Department of Environmental Protection knew for years that there was some groundwater contamination at the former Walter Kidde site, located at 675 Main St., township officials said. However, DEP officials had said the “chlorinated solvent” in the groundwater was contained to the Walter Kidde land and posed no imminent danger to neighbors.

“Groundwater moves, but as far as we know, it’s currently [staying] on the property,” DEP spokesman Larry Hagna told the Times in October.

Since then, the township has discovered that the current owners “hid” some information pertinent to their property’s contamination, Township Attorney Thomas Murphy said.

Back in 2007, in the wake of the Kiddie Kollege scandal, where 60 toddlers were poisoned by chemical vapors in a daycare center (located in a former industrial mercury battery manufacturing building, which was a known toxic site whereÂ that DEP failed to monitor or enforce a cleanup Order) DEP conducted a statewide vapor intrusion investigation.

outrages , how long and how many people have to suffer before dupont and the epa get real and do the right thing for those who were poisoned for decades,its un believable.get moving this is un acceptable!!